Mother's Day in Luxembourg on June 14, 2015

Wondering where Mother’s Day comes from and how to celebrate it in Luxembourg? Read on.

Even though festivities to honour motherhood date back to Ancient Greece, the first modern-day Mother’s Day was celebrated in 1908 in the US, when a woman named Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother who had passed away a few years earlier. Anna Jarvis wanted to honour her mother for her work caring for wounded soldiers in the Civil War. The holiday was not supposed to be commercialized, a simple hand-written letter expressing love was to be sufficient to show gratitude. This, of course, didn’t last long as companies like Hallmark started selling Mother’s Day cards in the 1920s.

In Luxembourg, Mother’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of June, which falls on June 14 in 2015. Children offer gifts to their mother, which usually are gifts they have made themselves in school. Adults, too, give presents to their mother: flowers, chocolates, or a dinner. In my experience, husbands also either give flowers to their wives or they surprise them with a homemade breakfast or a nice meal at a restaurant.

Mother’s Day has recently received some criticism as it seems to indicate that women are valued more in our society once they become mothers. While this sentiment is understandable, we also have to remember that everybody might not be a mother, but everybody has a mother to celebrate and that this day is simply there to express gratitude to the woman who gave life to us.

In any case, if you are planning on celebrating Mother’s Day, you can drop by the Mother’s Day Concert at Place d’Armes (Mammendag Concert op der Plëss) on June 13.

And you can practise your Luxembourgish on your Mother’s Day card:

Alles Guddes fir Mammendag. All the best for Mother’s Day.

Don’t forget to make those crepes (Paangecher) in the morning for the best surprise: